If there's one word guaranteed to raise my hackles it's the errant verb 'stunting'. It's not even a word (afaic!). I've never been a fan of the word 'cinematic' either, even though those are the sorts of games i like. But stunting is worse.
Anyway. The question here is: are narrative bonuses, awarded for 'cool descriptions' really the best way to handle what are meant to be visually impressive actions. Wushu seems to be an entire rpg built around this premise, as such I dislike it. It lacks all credibility because for stunts to be credible they have to be rooted in some semblance of reality, even in a game.
Is there a better way to handle this?

If this is an issue, have a chat with the players out of character to talk about the tone.  Is swinging from the chandelier a clever idea, merely fun color, or just a guarantee of a broken ankle?

The bonus is not about credibility, it's just to encourage players to do it.

Another approach (in a more staid, normal gravity game) I've seen to this sort of narration is not to grant any bonuses, but just leave it to the success or failure of the unmodified roll to decide whether the stunt provided any benefit.  Does leaping off the rim of the well to attack the prefect help?  Roll the dice and find out.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;536744It lacks all credibility because for stunts to be credible they have to be rooted in some semblance of reality, even in a game.

Your premise is flawed, as it presumes that there is only one reality.  Different genres of action film have different base rules about what is credible reality and what isn't.  Commando, Die Hard, and Hard Boiled are effectively operating in entirely different physical universes.  If you don't like that and want a game where the characters are limited to what is reasonably possible in the real world, then a) you're probably in the wrong hobby, and b) you don't want a game with any kind of stunting mechanic.

It sounds like you want some method of encouraging players to provide entertaining narration of their character's actions without the carrot of a mechanical bonus.  It's been my experience that players who like doing this will do it without any encouragement.  Players who don't are not going to be
seduced into it by any sort of mechanical or storygame trick.

Quote from: daniel_ream;540417Your premise is flawed, as it presumes that there is only one reality.

What i meant to say is reality within the genre/setting concerned. Not in the sense of conventional reality or one view thereof.

Quote from: fuseboy;540403If this is an issue, have a chat with the players out of character to talk about the tone.  Is swinging from the chandelier a clever idea, merely fun color, or just a guarantee of a broken ankle?

The bonus is not about credibility, it's just to encourage players to do it.

Another approach (in a more staid, normal gravity game) I've seen to this sort of narration is not to grant any bonuses, but just leave it to the success or failure of the unmodified roll to decide whether the stunt provided any benefit.  Does leaping off the rim of the well to attack the prefect help?  Roll the dice and find out.

I think there's a balance. Certaionly it's great when players get into the game, that's far too rare to deserve too much criticism (as opposed to laughing at really bad in-jokes, which seems something gamers do far too much). But just as players can not describe stunts enough, they can easily over do it. This is why I don't like wushu.

QuoteC considers memory management to be far too important to be left to the computer.  Java considers memory management to be far too important to be left to the programmer.

This is basically an issue of who you want to be responsible for enforcing the genre tropes.  Most rules-light storygames (which Wushu is) assume that all the players know and understand the genre tropes of whatever game they're playing and will self-regulate.  In my experience, this is overly optimistic and will lead to lasersharking.

On the other hand, you can use a game system where the stunts PCs can execute are well-defined, genre-appropriate, and come in sets limited to the character archetype.  Feng Shui does this, as does Fate 3.0 to some extent.  The down side to this is that limiting the players' options - well, it limits the players' options.  You're not going to get cool original stunts from the PCs, you're going to get the same set of five that their character bought in every fight.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;536744If there's one word guaranteed to raise my hackles it's the errant verb 'stunting'. It's not even a word (afaic!).

Actually, "to stunt" is "to make or render something stunted, i.e. arrested in growth and development".

QuoteAnyway. The question here is: are narrative bonuses, awarded for 'cool descriptions' really the best way to handle what are meant to be visually impressive actions. Wushu seems to be an entire rpg built around this premise, as such I dislike it. It lacks all credibility because for stunts to be credible they have to be rooted in some semblance of reality, even in a game.
Is there a better way to handle this?

As a general concept of playing style, I'd agree with you. Wuxia, however, is obviously a special case, since these games are emulating not reality (BTW, MOST RPGs are not emulating reality), but the Wuxia genre of film, where these sorts of stunts are a main staple.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;536744If there's one word guaranteed to raise my hackles it's the errant verb 'stunting'. It's not even a word (afaic!).

According to the OED, "stunting" has been a word since 1914. Originally applied to airplane stunts, by 1970 (and possibly sooner) it was generically referring to the performance of any stunt.

QuoteAnyway. The question here is: are narrative bonuses, awarded for 'cool descriptions' really the best way to handle what are meant to be visually impressive actions.

Honestly, I've found that it's usually sufficient to simply not punish the cool description.

IOW, if you're gaining some material benefit then you need to pay for it. But if you're just making the activity sound cooler, then there's no penalty. Since people tend to want to be awesome, it's not necessary to provide any additional incentive.

QuoteWushu seems to be an entire rpg built around this premise, as such I dislike it.

I've never been able to enjoy Wushu. Partly it's the heavily dissociated mechanics, but more specifically it's the fact that dissecting an awesome description to determine how many "details" it contains immediately robs that description of any awesomeness it once contained.

And that's assuming that you don't have someone at the table who (god forbid) is actually trying to play the game, because then it just turns into a ludicrous literary arms race.

I had good experience with theme cards. They are basically "Play to this trope to get bonus".

For example for a shonen anime style game I made:

Daijobu? - Ask an obviously beaten ally, whether he or she is alright. Your ally heals a hit box.

Mina! - Reminisce about friendship and companionship. +1 success

And so on. I actually use them as fanpost. So players can award each other for interesting and fitting contributions by handing a random card. That card then further reinforces the genre as well as some variation.